When we asked the girls which theme park in the UK they wanted to visit over Easter, without a moment’s thought they both replied Paulton’s Park and Peppa Pig World.
Paulton’s theme park, located on the edge of the beautiful New Forest in Hampshire has been voted the UK’s best by Trip Advisor and although its most famous for being home to Peppa Pig World and a huge draw for families with younger children, recent additions to the park have made it a firm favourite with tweens and teens which was why our kids wanted to go back to see what was new for 2022.
Tip – When booking tickets take a look at the official Paulton’s Breaks website you can pick up some great deals on partner hotels which come with breakfast plus you get a two day ticket – which can typically offer good savings compared to booking it separately.
Lost Kingdom
We started our day at the dinosaur themed Lost Kingdom, and I would highly recommend heading here first if like us you were here for the thrill rides as typically the wait times for some of the rides here can be lengthy, especially for the Flight of the Pterosaur coaster.
The Lost Kingdom is set over four acres, with excellent theming, with life-like animatronic dinosaurs. We were amazed as we walked through the main gate, it literally felt like you had been transported back 150 million years to Jurassic times.
More importantly for the girls it’s home to two of Paulton’s adrenaline filled rides – The Velociraptor coaster which shoots you forwards and backwards around the track at speeds of up to 40mph and the Flight of the Pterosaur coaster, a unique coaster suspended 395m above the park which took us swooping high and low around the track hitting speeds of 30mph.
We managed to ride once on the Flight of the Pterosaur coaster which was Chloe’s personal favourite ride during our visit and twice on the Velociraptor coaster with no wait times.
Tip – Download the free Paulton’s Park app before your visit which provides a map and real time updates on queue times and can help you plan which ride to visit next.
Once we had checked out some more of the rides at the Lost Kingdom, we wandered over to the older sections of the park which might get overlooked but it’s great for families with older children especially the fast spinning Edge ride, the drop tower Magma, The Sky Swinger and the Cobra coaster.
Tornado Springs
Next up was my favourite area Tornado Springs and the latest addition to Paulton’s Park, a 1950’s American Midwest-themed world. Walking through Tornado Springs reminded us of Car’s Land in Disney’s Californian Adventure theme park.
The attention to detail and theming here is excellent and one of the very best themed lands you will find at any theme park in the UK.
New for 2022 is the junior coaster called Farmyard Flyer which was good fun but the favorites with our kids were the Cyclonator Gyro Swing that spins and swings riders up to a height of 25 metres and the Storm Chaser rollercoaster, a free spinning ride the first of its kind in the UK travelling 20 metres above the ground.
Other attractions include Al’s auto academy driving school which looked great fun for younger children, Windmill Drop Towers and the Buffalo Falls water raft ride.
Dining Options
For lunch we headed to the Route 83 diner at Tornado Springs which for a theme park had a really good range of options available and more importantly our chicken tenders and curly fries were really tasty. I would also recommend stopping by at Tornado Treats, the doughnuts here are fab.
These are just some of the 80 rides and attractions families can enjoy here at Paulton’s Park covering 140 acres.
Peppa Pig World
Even with the girls getting older we still had to visit Peppa Pig World and it was just as I remembered it and as magical, with colourful rides, manicured gardens and the Peppa Pig theme tune park on continuous loop – it’s the closest place you will come to stepping inside the actual Peppa Pig cartoon.
The reason why Peppa Pig World attracts so many families is because the majority of the rides here can by enjoyed by all the family whatever their age, Holly had her first Peppa Pig ride experience at 16 weeks old and has been enchanted ever since on each of our trips here over the past 10 years.
We spent a good two hours in Peppa Pig world, on some of our old favourites like Peppa’s Big Balloon ride which provides brilliant aerial views of the park, George the Dinosaur Ride and on some of the newer attractions here Grampy Rabbit’s Sailing Club and The Queen’s Flying Coach ride.
We finished our visit walking through the peaceful gardens here, which often get overlooked with the lure of the rides but it’s worth stopping by to see the stunning displays of flowers, flamingos, tropical birds and the gorgeous Japanese garden.
Like previous visits to Paulton’s Park we all had a wonderful day and there was still so much we didn’t manage to squeeze in.
The mix of rides on offer for all the family make this theme park one of the very best in the country, and with the new attractions at Tornado Springs it keeps getting better and better. The girls are already talking about their return visit next year.
Where to stay?
As Paulton’s Park and Peppa Pig World is a good couple of hours drive from our home, we decided to return to one of our favourite hotels in the area, the Hilton at the Ageas Bowl.
Situated just 20 minutes’ drive away from Peppa Pig World at Paulton’s Park and with many other attractions nearby such as Marwell Zoo it’s the perfect location for a family break away.